Executive School Director - The Gardner School

Executive School Director

Position Purpose:

The Executive School Director has overall responsibility for all aspects of the School and ensures that the School is operating in accordance with Company and state licensing standards. The Executive School Director creates and maintains a school community that is safe, purposeful, and enriching, promotes the positive brand image of The Gardner School, and achieves the school’s financial objectives.

Essential Job Duties:

• Manages the School in compliance with all state/local regulations and The Gardner School policies and procedures.
• Effectively resolves issues related to the management of the School and/or seeks appropriate assistance from the District Manager.
• Maintains effective communications between Team Members and parents.
• Maintains administrative records for the School.
• Maintains appropriate and required records on staff and children.
• Plans work schedules and supervises staff. Assists in lesson planning and evaluates staff's performance.
• Ensures the Assistant School Director is trained to perform in the absence of the Executive School Director.
• Keeps fully apprised of all activities in the School.
• Prepares and forwards reports and forms in accordance with The Gardner School policies and procedures.
• Executive School Directors must be able to react quickly with sound judgment and problem-solving skills in complex and critical situations such as injuries and accidents. Directors must be qualified and able to perform the duties of any member of the staff from teacher to cook.
• Effectively represents the interests of The Gardner School.
• Makes purchases necessary for School operation while maximizing operational profit.

School Staff:

• Recruits, interviews, hires, and trains staff to maintain proper staff/child ratio.
• Ensures that each staff member receives and understands her/his job description, The Gardner School policies and procedures, and other orientation information and materials.
• Maintains personnel records as required and ensures confidentiality. (Medical records must be kept in a separate confidential file.)
• Maintains a current substitute list, if available.
• Ensures that up-to-date records for each child are maintained.
• Prepares and forwards all personnel records and forms as required to District Manager or HR in a timely manner.
• Coaches, counsels, and conducts performance reviews for all staff appropriately and on time.

Enrollment:

• Fills the School to capacity while maximizing the profitability of the operation.
• Conducts interview of parents and child before enrolling.
• Ensures that parents of enrolled children complete all necessary forms. Plans and conducts orientation for newly enrolled parents.
• Is visible and available to parents at their convenience to listen and take appropriate action on their concerns.
• Keeps parents informed of their child's progress and School activities.
• Tracks all inquiries, converts inquiries into parent tours of the school, and converts tours into enrollments.
• Actively maintains and manages the school waiting list.
• Ensures that the Enrichment programs are operational and fully enrolled.

Parents:

• Conducts parent meetings and other conferences as requested.
• Regularly solicits feedback from parents in order to make improvements in the school.

Fiscal Responsibilities:

• Maintains an accurate financial accounting of the school operation and protects the Company's monetary assets.
• Assists in planning annual budget and manages the operational budget as approved.
• Ensures that classroom equipment is maintained in good repair. Requests replacements and contracts for needed repairs following Company policies and procedures.
• Prepares and forwards required reports as designated by the Region Manager such as weekly statistics each Friday.
• Takes responsibility for Company assets and cash, makes daily deposits, and manages Purchasing Card.
• Ensures accuracy and timely collection of accounts receivable in accordance with The Gardner School policies and procedures.

Safety and Health:

• Conducts training of staff in School safety rules and regulations.
• Enforces all safety rules and regulations with staff for the safety of the children and parents.
• Maintains up-to-date health records for both staff and children.
• Enforces staff habits that result in clean and healthy care of children, including universal precautions.
• Maintains a clean environment by providing for scheduled cleaning of the school and through frequent visual checks.
• Informs a parent whenever their child has been exposed to communicable disease.
• Ensures that all staff have current certification in first aid training and CPR.
• Has emergency telephone numbers and an emergency plan, conducts emergency drills.
• Maintains building, equipment, and grounds through daily safety checks to ensure a safe environment meeting safety standards.
• Notifies parents via telephone immediately should their child suffer any type of injury. Ensure proper documentation of accident/incident and obtain necessary signatures.
• Dispense medication to children that have a medication authorization form completed and current.

Reporting Relationships:

• The Executive School Director reports to a District Manager. Reporting to the Executive School Director are: Lead Teachers, Assistant Teachers/Floater, a cook, and an assistant school director who may have scheduled teaching responsibilities in addition to providing administrative and operational support.
• Licensing regulations pertaining to the operation and staffing of a School vary from state to state in restrictions and in degree of individual interpretation by each state's agent. Therefore, an excellent relationship between the Executive School Director and the licensing board representative is essential.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Meet state licensing requirements for education and experience.
• Bachelor's degree required. Prefer degree in early childhood education, child development or a health-related field. Also prefer a minimum of two years in licensed childcare with at least one year as an Assistant Director or supervising a childcare program.

Physical Demands:

• Executive School Directors must possess excellent communications skills, including in-person communication with parents, Team Members and children. Must have the ability to receive and respond to telephone inquiries, along with excellent written communications through letters and personal computers.
• Frequently lifts or moves weight as in lifting, carrying, and holding children and infants up to 60 pounds.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of general administrative tasks
• Problem solving skills
• Ability to communicate clearly